Car-fender.



No. 775,287. PATENTED NOV. 15, 1904. P. BEST.

CAR FENDER.

APPLIGATION FILED FEB. 23, 1904.

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WITNESSES JNVENTOR. W BY vdZ/l, 6 W

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PATENTED NOV. 15, 1904.

P. BEST.

OAR FENDER.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 23, 1904.

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N0 MODEL.

INVENTOR 20 03M)- BY 77 ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES Patented November 15, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

PETER BEST, OF ELIZABETH, NE\V JERSEY.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.775,287, dated November15, 1904.

Application filed February 23, 1904. Serial N0. 194,728. (No model.)

To a iii/tom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, PETER Bnsr, of Elizabeth, in the county of Union andState of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Car-Fender, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in car-fenders such as are attachedto the forward end of a streetcar to prevent people from being injuredby the car.

The object of my invention is to produce a more efficient car-fenderthan is generally used, and particularly to produce a simple andinexpensive car-fender which can be attached to and detached from thecar with great facility to the end that it may be easily shifted fromone end of the car to the other; to provide means for catching a personwho comes in contact with the fender, so as to prevent him from rollingoff and being injured; to produce a loose connection for the upper endof the fender which will permit the fender to readily belly in thecenter and form a cage to catch the person struck; to provide means foreasily throwing back the fender to its normal position; to provide aconvenient means for holding the fender extended and secure, and ingeneral to produce a cheap and efficient device of the characterdescribed.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of constructionand combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described andclaimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved fender as attached to acar, the fender being shown in normal position. Fig. 2 is a detail View,partly in vertical cross-section, showing the means for throwing thefender back to normal position after it has been brought into use. Fig.3 is a detail plan, partly in section, showing how the lower frame ofthe fender is held in position. Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of thefender as applied to the car, and Fig. 5 is a cross-section through oneof the supporting-standards and shows the means for hanging the deviceto a car.

I have shown a car provided with the usual buffer 10, on the upper sideof which I have produced lugs 11, which are curved or rounded on thefront edges to provide for the easy removal of the fender or the easyhanging thereof, these lugs having shoulders 12 on the back side, sothat when the arms 13 of the fender are in position the arms will slipbeneath the shoulders and be secure. These arms 13 are slotted so thatthey can slip on easily over the lugs 11. and the arms are integral onor securely fastened to the standards 1 1, which are vertically arrangedand which may be of any suitable style.

The standards 14: support at their upper ends a cross-shaft 15, whichcarries pulleys or drums 15, and to these are attached the chains 16,the said chains having their free ends connected to buttons 1'7 on thecross-piece 18, which is secured to the upper member of the fender,which member is composed of a series of slats 19, preferably of springmetal. The fender proper will be referred to presently moreparticularly.

The upper portion of the standards lat terminate in housings 14, withinwhich are springs 20, preferably spiral springs, each spring being fixedat one end in the shaft, as shown at in Fig. 2, the other end being madefast to the standard. The shaft has also a ratchet-wheel 21 in eachhousing, although the ratchet-wheels may of course be differentlylocated, and the ratchet wheel which engage a pawl 22, which is pivotedon the standard, is pressed into engagement with the ratchet-wheel by aspring 23 and has a handle 24, which extends outward through a slot 25in the housing, and by means of the handle the pawl can be released.WVhen a person or body strikes the fender, the latter is pulled inwardand downward by contact with the body, and-the pull on the chains 16turns the shaft 15 and tightens the spring 20, which the fender, themotorman can release the pawls by means of the handles 14, and thetension of the springs 20 turns the shaft 15 back and causes the fenderto immediately spring back to its normal position.

It will be seen that the loose connection between the upper part of thefender and its support makes the fender very flexible, and thisflexibility is increased by the construction of the fender proper. Theupper member, formed of the cross-slats 19, is provided with across-piece 26 at the top to stiffen it, and at the bottom it carries across-rod 27, which serves as a pintle and makes ahinge connection withthe lower member of the fender, which comprises the parallel rods 28,which extend downward and forward, being curved slightly and havingtheir extended lower portions 29 provided with a cross-rod 30, whichforms practically the lower edge of the fender, though some of the rods28 are extended, as shown at 31, so as to carry the buffer 32, which canbe of rubber or other suitable material. The lower portion of the fenderis hinged by a cross-rod 33 to the ears 34, which project upward fromthe front edge of the frame 35, which frame is of a generally U shape,and the side members of the frame connect, preferably, by screwing, withthe clips 36, which are adjustably connected to the lower portions ofthe standards 14. The connection between the clips and the standards isby means of a suitable bolt 37 or equivalent fastening which can beadjusted in one of a series of holes 38 in the standard, and the clip 36has a boss 36 at the back, which overlaps the back part of the standard14, and so prevents the frame 35 from tipping down too far.

It will be seen that the means just described enables the frame 35 andthe lower part of the fender to be held at a desired height, that thefender, which has normally a slightly convex and flexible body, ishinged at the bottom and freely supported at the top, so that it isextremely flexible that way, a body is caught on the fender, the latterimmediately buckles and forms a cage to hold the body securely, and thatby reason of the free connection at the top the fender is madeespecially flexible, while at the same time the free connection providesby its action on the tension device a convenient means for throwing thedevice back to place.

It will be noticed that the fender extends normally into position foruse and that by reason of its hinged construction in the center and atits connection with the lower part of the standards 14 the fender may beswung upward to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. L when thefender is not in use, in such case the fender turning on its hingedpintle 27, while the frame 35 swings upon the bolts 37.

It will be observed that this fender by the action of the ratchet doesnot rebound after a weight has buckled it to throw the weight off, asthe ratchet taking up the tension of the spring What little reboundthere is is caused only by the natural flexibility of the material.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. An apparatus of the kind described,comprising supporting-standards having means for attachment to a car, aforwardly-extending frame carried by the standards, and a flexiblefender-body having its lower portion supported on the frame and itsupper portion carried by the standards, the upper end of said upperportion being arranged to move vertically or horizontally.

2. An apparatus of the kind described, comprising supporting-standardshaving means for attachment to a car, -a flexible fender-body having itslower edge supported on the lower portion of the standards and its upperportion carried by the top portions of the standards, and a flexibleconnection between the upper portion of the fender and the standards.

3. The combination with the car and the vertically-arranged lugsthereon, of the stand ards havingslotted arms to engage the lugs, and afender carried by the standards.

4:; An apparatus of the kind described, comprising supporting-standardshaving means for attachment to a car, a forwardly-extending frameadjustably supported on the standards, a rotatable cross-shaft on thestandards, and a flexible fender-body having its lower edge pivotallyconnected with the frame and its upper part supported from and flexiblysecured to the cross-shaft.

5. The combination with a buckling or bending fender, of a springdevice, the tension of which is increased by the buckling of the fender,and means for retaining and releasing the tension of the spring device,whereby the fender may be retained in its buckled condition or returnedto normal position.

6. The combination witha fender constructed to buckle or bend in themiddle, of a rotary shaft supporting the fender, a spring connected withthe shaft and stretched by the buckling of the fender, and means asaratchetwheel and pawl, for controlling the action of the spring andshaft.

7. The combination with the supportingstandards having means forattachment to a car, of the forwardly-extending frame, the clipssupporting the frame and carried by the standards, the said clips havingbosses or stops to limit the swing of the frame, and a fender supportedpartly on the frame and partly from the upper part of the standards.

8. The combination with the supportingstandards and the frame carriedthereby, of the spring-returned shaft carried by the standards, means asa ratchet-Wheel and pawl for controlling the shaft, and a bucklingfender having a flexible connection with the shaft at one end, and apivotal connection With the frame at the other end.

9. The combination with the supporting- I standards and the framecarried thereby, of a buckling fender comprisinga pair of panelspivotallg connected, the lower panel beingpivotally connected at thefront end of the frame, and a flexible connection secured to thestandards and to the upper panel of the fender at a point intermediatebetween its pivoted and free ends.

PETER BEST. \Vitnesses:

\IVM. H. UAMFIELD, J. G. DUNBAR.

